SJMN: FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS OF JULY 1-2 NORTHWEST TRIBES SEEK SUPPORT FOR
score was 78 out of 100.

For weekend editions of July 1-2 Northwest Tribes Seek Support for Plan to Save 
Dwindling Runs sspa1-ciao
By SCOTT SONNER

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Northwest Indian tribes are trying to build support on 
Capitol Hill for their own plan to save the region's salmon from extinction, and
 at least one member of Congress thinks they may be onto something.

``Simply stated, our plan emphasizes this basic strategy: Put the fish back in 
the rivers, where the fish belong, and take care of the rivers, where the fish 
live,'' said Nelson Wallulatum, chief of the Wasco Tribe in Oregon.

Leaders of four tribal groups outlined the salmon-recovery plan to members of 
the region's congressional delegation and staff members at recent briefings.

The most controversial part calls for drawing down reservoir levels at Snake 
River dams, increasing water flow and spills to help young fish get through the 
hydroelectric system. Drawdowns reduce the water available for power production,
 irrigation, shipping and other uses.

``For far too long, the costs imposed by the region's failure to protect and 
restore the fish have been borne by the tribes -- in economic, social and 
spiritual terms,'' said Samuel Penney, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal 
Executive Committee in Lapwai, Idaho.

``The time to act is now. The fish cannot wait any longer for perfect 
information and complete consensus,'' Penney said.

``This is not about whether humans come first or the environment comes first. 
Humans must have a healthy environment so that we can live.''

The tribal strategy would end the practice of barging and trucking juvenile 
salmon around dams. Hatcheries would help rebuild populations and reintroduce 
species in areas where they have vanished.

``The major theme of our passage recommendations is that we take actions to 
provide more natural conditions for the fish,'' said Alphonse Halfmoon, member 
of the board of trustees of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation in Pendleton, Ore.

The plan would restrict logging, grazing and other activities near streams, and 
place tighter restrictions on ocean harvest when populations numbers are down.

Rep. Elizabeth Furse, a Democrat representing Oregon's northern coast, wants 
Congress and the Clinton administration to give serious consideration to the 
tribes' plan.

``I've been learning about salmon for 25 years and the most valuable information
 that has come to me is from the Pacific Northwest tribes,'' she said.

Their proposal should be considered one of the three major options on the table,
 Furse said -- along with those advocated by the Commerce Department's National 
Marine Fisheries Service and the Northwest Power Planning Council, with members 
from Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana.

All incorporate many of the same ideas, but the non-tribal plans would continue 
barging fish around dams and move more slowly toward the drawdowns, which are 
opposed by a range of interests including shippers, farmers and aluminum 
companies that rely on the region's hydropower.

Penney said the rate of increase for salmon populations under the tribal plan 
would be about five times that of the NMFS plan over the next seven years. The 
tribes' long-term objective is to restore the salmon to historic levels within 
200 years.

Salmon were plentiful in the Columbia River basin for 700 generations, said 
Lonnie Selam, a member of the Yakama Indian Nation's Tribal Council and chairman
 of its fish and wildlife committee in Toppenish, Wash.

``Until this century, we always had a healthy ecosystem with an abundance of 
fish,'' he said.

Treaty rights promising access to traditional fisheries and tribal histories in 
the Columbia Basin give the tribes a leg up on other interests vying for a share
 of area waterways.

``Whereas others rely on political will to manage natural resources, the tribes 
rely on spiritual will. Where politics have failed, native spirituality is still
 strong,'' Selam said.

``We have seen where `progress' and `science' based on materialism and devoid of
 spiritual values can lead to the destruction of the ecosystem and the creatures
 which depend upon it.''

Wallulatum, a lifetime member of the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes 
of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, said the tribes' ancestors had the 
wisdom to reserve their fishing rights in the Treaty of 1855.

``Like us, they also recognized that the ultimate source of power and authority 
is the set of natural laws governing the relationship between man and the 
natural world around him. These laws were made known to the Indian people by the
 Creator,'' he said.

``Despite differences in languages and certain cultural practices, our peoples 
have always shared a common understanding -- that our very existence depended on
 the respectful enjoyment of the Columbia Basin's vast land and water 
resources.''

AP-WS-06-29-95 1406EDT